Female Irish detectives posed as prostitutes in an unprecedented sting operation that saw a total of 21 man convicted of soliciting 'ladies of the night'.
The US-style operation, one of the first on this scale for the Gardaí, took place over almost a month in Limerick city centre and its environs, ultimately bagging the cops a total of 21 convictions before Limerick District Court, all of whom were directed to make a donation to a local charity by the judge.
The men, most of whom were living locally, also had their names and addresses published in an embarrassing 'name and shame' sequitur to the report carried by a local Limerick newspaper.
Many of the men were in their sixties, although the youngest caught was only 23. All pled guilty to the charge of soliciting prostitutes.
The highlight of the trial, no doubt, was the moment when one of the convicted summoned the courage to ask Judge Eamon O'Brien for free legal aid. The judge's response: “If you can afford a lady of the night, you can afford a solicitor."
The remarkable operation took place in the city centre over a number of weeks and involved two undercover female detectives embedding themselves in well-known prostitution hotspots in the city center.
Prostitution has remained a problem in Limerick for some time, and the latest Garda effort is just one of many to crack down on the trade before it becomes even more widespread.
Lobbying groups such as Doras Luiminí claim that Ireland has become a major venue for human trafficking, intimately bound up with the sex trade, and claim that thousands of women, many of Eastern European, are living in effective imprisonment in Ireland.
A similar sting operation, minus the covert element, took place in Cork last year where a number of brothels that had been operating in Cork were busted in a citywide crackdown.
Local prostitution linchpin Tony Linnane was found to have set up an elaborate recording system at one of his locales operating just metres from a popular nightclub in the city centre, and close to the South Mall, Cork's financial and insurance thoroughfare.
The fear spread like contagion to the professional classes on the Mall, many of whom must have been extremely thankful that the prosecution took place in camera, where the prying eyes of journalists and locals alike could not see who had been literally caught with their pants down.
Although using brothels as a patron is not illegal under Irish law, soliciting prostitutes in the public domain, operating them, or deriving criminal proceeds from them, are.
Many are reportedly turning to online ventures such as the very notorious Escort Ireland to use prostitutes.
Girls are advertised as 'escorts' and go to great lengths to explicitly say they offer sexual services, but in reality are prostitues.
11 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.GeorgeDillon | Dec 11, 2011, 07:54 AM EST
I read that one in three of the johns who were fined are foreigners. These guys are Poles, Latvians, Russians etc. who are far from home and may not have a chance to meet women. It's pretty contemptible fot the Irish police and courts to go after these guys. What a waste of police and judges' time. Go after your gangster bankers and politicians, you fools, none of whom have ever seen a day in court.
seagreen | Dec 10, 2011, 03:06 PM EST
If they only had 21 convictions in a month, these female cops had better not quit their day job ! Any respectable prostitute that had any allure to speak of would be able to surpass that in two nights. I have to think that there is a bit of a whore in some these Garda babes to want to do such a thing, but I guess entrapment can be fun too !
GeorgeDillon | Dec 10, 2011, 02:41 PM EST
haasny007 -- Countless reports out of Ireland speak of Eastern European women dominating the vice industry. They also have a lucrative sideline in Weddings-While-U-Wait. These are the "weddings" arranged by Pak or Indian criminals, in which an EU woman, usually Latvian or Lithuanian, "marries" a Pak, Indian or other non-EU nationality, thus conferring him with EU residency rights. The Latvian woman arrives at the registrars office and says to the Paks lounging about "Which one of you guys is the groom?" Everyone knows this is going on big time, but the Irish are too stupid to take action against it.
ellenfromcork | Dec 10, 2011, 12:59 PM EST
That last sentence in the story doesn't make sense.
leahforce | Dec 10, 2011, 11:28 AM EST
Kudos for naming and shaming the REAL offenders. Well done Limerick.
Murph46 | Dec 10, 2011, 10:31 AM EST
We used to have similar crackdowns only when the Soap Box Derby or Big Golf Tournament was coming to town the rest of the years hookers were all over-how super hypocrytical!
hooligan6a | Dec 10, 2011, 10:23 AM EST
God, I looked it up and I found out that I am a Xenophobe.
hooligan6a | Dec 10, 2011, 10:13 AM EST
I'd say George is calling it like it is. We, in the US are afraid to state the obvious in case we offend. For example, our prisons, the majority of prisoners are of a "certain" race....but we can't openly state it...in case we offend someone.....good man George....oops...those words from the song..."The Langer".
cuddlybuddly | Dec 10, 2011, 10:09 AM EST
Nice Operation ladies! Well Done...sex trafficking effectively treats human beings like a meat product, it should be stopped..it's as old as the hills which would suggest it's accepted..so it's refreshing when perpetrators of this vile transaction are caught
haasny007 | Dec 10, 2011, 09:53 AM EST
georgedillon, here you go again, lashing out at foreigners. You are a bona fide xenophobe. Just admit it!
GeorgeDillon | Dec 09, 2011, 02:37 PM EST
To really act the part and make it more authentic, did the women police speak Lithuanian or Latvian? Those are the languages of choice of today's hookers in Ireland.